Noah: first trailer released

Watch the first trailer for the controversial biblical epic Noah, starring
Russell Crowe and Emma Watson

By Matt Lewis

5:27PM GMT 14 Nov 2013

The first trailer for Darren Aronofsky’s eagerly anticipated biblical epic, Noah, has been released. The film stars Russell Crowe in the title role and is a retelling of the Bible story in which Noah saves his family and the animals of the world from a great flood.

The trailer's score sets the tone for the film: all operatic swells and orchestral crescendos as we see Noah's first premonition about the fate of the world. Anthony Hopkins’s Methuselah adds dramatic depth, gravely warning his grandson about the corruption and necessary destruction of mankind, before Ray Winstone’s Tubal-cain adds a touch of tribal fury to the proceedings.

At just over two minutes long, the trailer showcases the impressive visual effects that have been used to give the story the requisite scale. The final sequence, in which the flood waters rain down on the Earth and Noah’s ark is finally tested, is particularly stirring.

The project has been mired in controversy for some time, with both Christian and Jewish audiences opposed to the plot’s deviation from the scriptures, and reports suggesting that the studio, Paramount, had asked the director to make changes to the story. In the trailer, there is little evidence of material that would upset the aforementioned audiences, though there do appear to be fantastical flourishes towards the end of the two minutes.

The film stars Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson, Douglas Booth and Logan Lerman. It will be released in the UK on March 28.